Buying Vintage Lenses – The Two Biggest Traps I’ve Fallen Into

Over the last eight years or so, I've had in excess of 100 lenses, perhaps nearer 200 now.  Whilst I love these old lenses, and there have been very few I've disliked entirely, I've purchased far more than I've needed. These are most likely the biggest two traps I've fallen into.  1. Thinking I needed… Continue reading Buying Vintage Lenses – The Two Biggest Traps I’ve Fallen Into

The Fabulous 55s

The first SLR I owned, back in 2013, was a late '70s Praktica BMS Electronic, with a Prakticar Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 lens. It turns out that whilst this wasn't the most refined SLR ever made, it was pretty reliable, and the Pentacon 50/1.8 is very decent indeed. I later went on to enjoy perhaps half… Continue reading The Fabulous 55s

Photographs Of Cameras And Lenses – Why Are They So Popular?

Before I reset my Flickr photostream a couple of years back, I had something approaching 5000 photos there. To my eternal chagrin, the one with most views by far was a picture of a handful of 80s compact film cameras. A sequel picture to that one is my second most viewed, and some 17 of… Continue reading Photographs Of Cameras And Lenses – Why Are They So Popular?

Deal Breakers – Those Cameras And Lenses Where You Know It’s All Over Before It’s Even Begun

A lens I bought recently was destined for the door only moments after I'd unwrapped it.  Why? It was a zoom with one of those sliding barrels to adjust the zoom, rather than a rotating one, and worse still it was so sloppy and loose, every time I tilted the lens a few degrees the… Continue reading Deal Breakers – Those Cameras And Lenses Where You Know It’s All Over Before It’s Even Begun